Mos6502

I'm looking for a front basket for one of my bikes, and I want to know what others have used and what they preferred.

I've been looking at Wald baskets and trying to decide the relative merits of a "normal" tall basket, vs. flatter, wider basket.

That is, something like this:

vs. something like this:


The wider, flatter baskets seem like a good idea to me since they will take things like boxes that can't be "made to fit" in a narrower basket (ie. things that are foldable), but I wonder if at only 5" deep there's a chance that things could be bumped out of the shallower basket, or maybe blown out by wind.

Any experiences?

fietsbob

stretch nets !
also made hip, again.. big front racks..
Porteur racks are like big basket bases with low or no sides .
Porteurs were the people on bicycles who shuttled
the daily newspaper bundles to the Sales Kiosks around cities like Paris
from the distribution dock. so HD, as a few bundles quickly add up to 20KG.

Mos6502

I think I'm gonna go with the the 139. Seems big enough for most things I would want to carry.

Schwinnsta

That is a good choice. Go any bigger and you will notice the handling, even when empty.

no1mad 

Though it appears you've made your selection, I thought I'd share a little story.

I don't have any baskets, but I have used a couple of different types of crates- milk and beverage. One day, I came out of the store that is also the bus stop that I used when I had my long commute and saw the bus was both a bit early and taking a slightly different route through the parking lot (relief driver had bad directions). I didn't have time to put my snacks in my backpack (20 oz. Pepsi and a can of Pringles), so I just tossed them into my rear crate and took off after the bus... I caught the bus and didn't lose my stuff. The crate in question is below.

windhchaser

my bike is hard to find a basket for because it has weird shifters i just struck out again but i heard great things about wald

no1mad 

Let us know how it works it out for you. I for one would be interested in reading your impressions, as I've thought about trying out a front basket.

Mos6502

Ok here today, and mounted on my bad weather beater:

The Wald 139 basket. It's a fairly large basket, measuring 15.5" wide by 11" long on the inside bottom. It is 6" deep. I'm glad I did not go with the smaller 137, because I know it would have ended up being too small for carrying more than one or two packages around now.

Looked around the garage for a "maximum" test load, and this old set of portable studio lights just about fills the basket:

Weight just over 10lbs, didn't seem to have much effect on handling, at least not on this laid back frame.

The quality of the basket itself is fine. The mounting is a little bit dubious though.

The handle bar clamps are made for 1" handle bars. If you're mounting to older smaller diameter bars they include some rubber shims to take up the difference. Works fine right now, but I'm wondering if the rubber will compress over time.

The "legs" seem sort of flimsy to me, they bolt onto two tabs on the bottom of the basket, the tabs don't seem particularly sturdy and the screws are pretty thin. It's probably good enough for holding a heavy load when the bike isn't moving, but I'm concerned about whether this arrangement is strong enough for side to side forces.

If you're familiar with old Wald baskets then you may remember that the bottom of the legs have three holes for different mounting heights, and that they mount to the front axel. Well, apparently no longer. There is one large hole and one small hole per leg, the large one for axel mounting, and the small one for eyelet mounting. To level the basket out one has to fiddle with the handlebar clamps. If you have a tall bike or tall handlebars this is actually pretty good because it means the overall arrangement is stronger than it used to be. But if you have a short bike it means positioning the handle bar clamps forward, where they probably don't do much for supporting weight.

Anyway on my test ride round the block, I did not hear any rattles from the basket, and it seemed to handle the 10lbs. weight of the box with no problem.

dphilips

I recently copied others who have mounted a Wald 137 (minus the stock mounting hardware) on a Sunlite GoldTec front rack. The GoldTec front rack mounts to cantilever brake posts and the fork crown, kind of like a cheaper Nitto M12. This puts the basket lower than mounting it to the handlebars to give more room before brake levers and cables get in the way and allows the basket to be removed easily (I used bolts and wing nuts). A stretchy cargo net tops it off.

This is on my around town bike rather than my usual commuter but I've used it on one commute where I carried my backpack (maybe 10lbs with clothes, shoes, and lunch) in the basket and it worked great.

Mos6502

Got my first real use of this basket today. Took a package to the post office. About a two mile trip, with unfortunately a big hill in the middle. The basket is great for all the reasons that baskets are good. Just toss what you need to carry in it, no need to tie anything down - and since it is in front you never have to worry about it falling out without you noticing. So far still no rattles.

toastytoad

I have a small wald basket, the struts were short so it leaned down a tad, I ended up just using the basket turned sideways on a rear mounted rack, seems to work well, although I do get worried about hitting a bump and something falling out but it hasnt happened yet


That bike is sick though

Mos6502

runabout bike by berangberang, on Flickr

It's pretty good for post office runs. Went to the P.O. box today after a light rain. The basic convenience is just being able to throw stuff in it and go.

no1mad 

New bike+basket combo or did you paint the one from earlier in the thread?

Mos6502

Yeah I sprayed it green. I haven't put the front brake back on yet.